What I've been thinking that there is a serious lack of UX chops in the Steemit's team. It is exactly the same problem that used to plague Linux community, as well as all other software in the early days. Oh, and a lack of communication is another hurdle. So I'd like to second the bit about learning the gripes of minnows, because it is one of the steps in good UX. But it goes a bit farther than just listening, and uses other tools as well, because people don't always know how to address the problems that they are having. That is the peoblems are often caused by something other than what user thinks, but listening to complaints is a good start to isolate the issues.